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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

May 31, 2019

Justin Rose

Dublin, Ohio

Q. Get some comments on your play.
JUSTIN ROSE: It was fun, obviously. Early bogey today. I came out today with the intention of not just trying to making the cut, but trying to play a round that would get me into the tournament. I was thinking about how I could turn in 31 today and then see if I can keep it going from there.

And I did turn in 31, but I wanted it back to even par for the tournament through the fifth hole. It was my mini goal starting the day, 3-under through 5, and obviously I bogeyed No. 3 to give me 4-over for the tournament.

But I guess the two eagles on the front kind of kick started everything. I kept just pushing myself to keep trying to go as low as I could. Once you're through the cut line, then you've got to build your way into the tournament. It was a great day.

Q. Do you feel like you were playing the way you did mentally (inaudible)?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, it was a good round. I didn't feel completely comfortable with the putter early in the round. I kind of got it to 3-, 4-, 5-under for the round without making any putts, and it was nice on the back nine to make a couple. It was a nice culmination of that, the way the round played out.

The two par-5s on the back nine, struggled on those a little bit, and I chipped in actually for birdie on 11 so the result was good. 15, I missed the fairway. There were some moments I was still having to work pretty hard. All in all I feel like my game has been really, really close, and is really, really close. It's still not totally comfortable, but I hit a lot of good shots out there so it was good.

Q. You're a great player and won here in the past. But the conditions today, how conducive were they to scoring, and did you get as much out there as you thought you could?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I got a lot out of the round today, a couple of lucky breaks, couple of eagles. You can't really account for that or bank on that. There were a couple of moments. I hit one putt on 14 which I thought was missing low and it kind of straightened up at the hole and went in.

A couple little moments that went for me today. But the course was conducive to scoring, but it was tricky still. It's hard to dial in your distances here. The ball travels a long way. I think we're only at a thousand feet, but once the temperature gets up there in the 80s, the ball goes so far here.

So you've always got that in the back of your mind, you hit an 8-iron from 180 sometimes down a little bit of breeze, and in the back of your mind you don't feel like it should get there, but it does. That's what you're dealing with out there as a player. The wind was light, but light and variable. So, again, that was a challenge.

Q. You said that you feel like you're real close. And yesterday you told somebody that you felt like you only needed to get out of your own way. Today what was it that clicked that put you basically in the players parking lot?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I actually played great. I felt like -- I felt comfortable on every shot yesterday, walked off with a 75, made a ton of mistakes. But felt like I was going to hit good golf shots.

I finished third earlier in the year in Charlotte and felt like every shot could go sideways. It's the way the game is sometimes, ground it out pretty hard. But I'd rather have it this way because it tells you where you're heading. And hopefully, when you put it all together, I know my game is trending the right way, just you've got to wait for the score sometimes.

Q. I think you've got the best second round average on the Tour (inaudible)?
JUSTIN ROSE: Crap first rounds (laughter). Yeah, I've always been a bit of a fighter, back to the wall, having to come out -- a lot of pride. I missed a lot of cuts early in my career, and I hate missing cuts. I've got a lot of personal pride on a Friday to try to get it done.

Q. Standing on that 15, you were three shots outside the cut line. Was there anything that was said during the round that kept you in that mode where I'm still going to be okay?
JUSTIN ROSE: We definitely tried to free it up a little bit around that 5th hole. It was just circumstance that it all happened fairly quick, right away. He made a comment like let's try to hit the right shots, like quality golf shots, the right shot at the right time. If it's a little tricky shot, let's try to hold the 8-iron in there. At the end of the day, that's what you need to do to win tournaments. He said, if it doesn't work, I'd rather stand on the range with you on Saturday than we're scraping and making the cut and finish 30 or 40th.

So basically the intention was let's try to hit the proper shot. That will ultimately lead us to winning tournaments, whether it's this week or down the road.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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